What's Going Around

Doctors at Sparrow Family Practice say the colder temperatures and shorter days are causing a 10 - 20 percent increase in the number of patients with depression.

Sleeping problems, a change in appetite and even body aches and pains unrelated to medical problems, can identify season affective disorder. While severe depression is often treated with antidepressants, doctors suggest other ways to fight it.

"Depression can be treated with careful attention to diet and exercise. Exercise releases endorphins and that's a natural antidepressant that your body can make, " Dr. Karen Ken, Sparrow Family Practice.

Doctors suggest you to discuss your case with your primary care physician. He or she can determine if further evaluation or medication is needed.

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Seasonal Affective Disorder

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is an extreme case of the “winter blues” that is relieved during the spring and summer months.

Although SAD isn’t totally understood, it is a real illness with sometimes severe symptoms.

For people with SAD, their bodies have a difficult time adjusting to the shortage of sunlight in the winter months.

Symptoms are most pronounced in January and February, when the days are shortest.

Symptoms

Some of the symptoms of depression occur regularly during the fall and winter months those include:

Young people and women are at the highest risk for the disorder, but it can affect anyone.

An estimated 25 percent of the population suffers from mild winter SAD, and about five percent suffer from a more severe form of the disorder.

What Causes SAD

Melatonin, a sleep-related hormone secreted by the pineal gland in the brain, has been linked to SAD.

Melatonin is believed to cause symptoms of depression and is produced at increased levels in the dark, so when the days are shorter and darker, the production of this hormone increases.

Treatment

For mild symptoms, spending time outdoors during the day or arranging homes and workplaces to receive more sunlight may be helpful.

Regular exercise—particularly if done outdoors—may help because exercise can relieve depression.

For more severe symptoms, a light treatment called phototherapy might help. Phototherapy has been shown to suppress the brain’s secretion of melatonin.

If phototherapy doesn’t work, an antidepressant drug may help reduce or eliminate SAD symptoms, but there may be unwanted side effects to consider.

In all cases, people who think they may have SAD should discuss their symptoms with a doctor or mental health professional. Contact your local Mental Health Association, community health center or our source:

The National Mental Health Association Web site (http://www.nmha.org/infoctr/factsheets/27.cfm)

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